A small Pre-K-through-12 private school in Monroe is a finalist for a $1 million sports facility makeover from T-Mobile. Ryan Dickson, the assistant principal and assistant athletic director at River Oaks School, says winning the competition could give the school a chance to upgrade multiple football facilities.
“If you are to win the grand prize, you get a million-dollar grant, and it is to upgrade anything in your football area. So stadium, turf field, lights, track, anything dealing with the football field area is that your discretion to upgrade. Whatever needs to be done,” Dickson explained.
River Oaks’ football stadium is outdated, and Jackson says that if the school was to win T-Mobile’s Friday Night Lights competition, the bleachers and seating would be a main priority for upgrades.
“Our stadium itself is over 50 years old. Very old-style bleachers, they are not ADA compliant as far as handrails and wheelchair ramps. So that’s one of the main areas that we would like to update, is getting rid of the 50-year-old bleachers and getting a true stadium,” Dickson said.
Jackson says flood damage in 2016 left the school’s sports facilities in poor condition, so winning the competition would allow the school to make several upgrades to its facilities.
“We also had a major flood in 2016 that caused damage to it. So, we would like to get our new track as well. Our lights are very outdated. We actually had a lightning strike at our stadium about a month ago, and getting parts to replace that and get those fixes was kind of a chore in itself because they’re older,” Dickson said.
